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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094165">she goes home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/softlikethesunset/pseuds/softlikethesunset'>softlikethesunset</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>everlark stuff i wrote bc i miss them [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Death, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Tears, i am sad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 03:35:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>683</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094165</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/softlikethesunset/pseuds/softlikethesunset</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>it's been sixty years since katniss and peeta returned to district twelve.</p><p>and they're getting old.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>everlark stuff i wrote bc i miss them [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978651</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>she goes home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>so i'm really sad now.</p><p>but i was thinking about everlark and how much i love them, and somehow it turned into this.</p><p>so yeah.</p><p>oops.</p><p>also i do not own the hunger games  series, all claims to the characters go to suzanne collins.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katniss and Peeta are getting old.</p><p>It’s been sixty years since they returned to District 12, and their children have come and gone, raising children of their own.</p><p>The nightmares didn’t leave, though, and Katniss still gets them every night.</p><p>Peeta still gets them too, but after a while they get blurrier and fuzzier and they play real or not real a lot more often.</p><p>“I had two brothers. They died in the District 12 bombing. Real or not Real?” </p><p>“Real.”</p><p>“The first time I saw you, you had your hair in one braid. Real or not real?”</p><p>“It was two.”</p><p>“I lost my leg in the Games. Real or not real?”</p><p>“Real, Peeta.”</p><p>His memory loss gets so bad that he forgets Rue’s name at one point, calling her Prim, and Katniss cries.</p><p>She’s not doing so well either. Her bones are too brittle to hunt, and she spends most of her time lying in the meadow, reminiscing on the days she and Peeta would chase their children around in the flowers.</p><p>The sun warms her face, and she watches the leaves of the willow rustle as a tear drips down her cheek.</p><p>A week later, a doctor comes to talk to her.</p><p>Peeta will be gone soon.</p><p>He can’t leave the bed, and Katniss spends hours sitting next to him, feeding him soup.</p><p>The days drag by, and everytime Katniss closes her eyes, she kisses his forehead and tells him how much she loves him just in case he slips away while she’s asleep.</p><p>Not that sleeping is her choice.</p><p>Her children come to stay, making sure she’s getting rest and food like she should.</p><p>Then the day comes, and they’re the only things holding her together.</p><p>Peeta’s breathing is shallow, his face pale, but he still whispers fondly of the times they had together.</p><p>Katniss can’t do anything but nod, crying, rubbing his palm with her thumb.</p><p>And right before he takes his last breath, he tells her that he can’t remember much, but the one thing he knows is real is his love for her.</p><p>And then he is gone.</p><p>It’s a couple years before Katniss knows it’s soon to be her time, but every day she drags herself out of bed to sit on the porch and get some fresh air.</p><p>Her house is still decorated with photos of her family, like her daughter’s first birthday or the reopening of the Mellark Bakery.</p><p>Her favorite is one of her three favorite people, covered in flour, smiling at the camera. Peeta’s face is powdery with white, her daughter’s hair is frizzy, and her son’s smile is an open-mouthed grin, only baby teeth shining.</p><p>She looks at it everyday.</p><p>There are others too, like one of Annie and her son at Christmas, or of the puppy it took Peeta five years to agree to.</p><p>On one particular day, she’s feeling rather nostalgic, so she pulls out the book of her lost friends and family, tears wetting the pages as she flips through them.</p><p>There is no entry for Peeta, so Katniss finds a pen and, writing the best she can with her old and wrinkled hands, tells his story.</p><p>How he saved her life when they were just kids.</p><p>And the many times after.</p><p>How he was the only one who kept the nightmares away.</p><p>How delicious his cheese buns were.</p><p>The beauty of his golden eyelashes.</p><p>How gentle he was with their children.</p><p>The way he cared about every creature, big or small.</p><p>She wrote until her hands hurt, and when she was finished, she took a walk to the meadow and laid under the tree. </p><p>“I miss you, Peeta.” She said to the air.</p><p>The leaves rustle, as if saying they missed her, too.</p><p>When she gets home, she lays in bed and closes her eyes, calm and serene.</p><p>The next morning, she does not wake up.</p><p>She goes home.</p><p>To Rue.</p><p>To Cinna.</p><p>To Mags.</p><p>To Wiress, Beetee, and Johanna.</p><p>To her parents.</p><p>To Madge.</p><p>To Haymitch and Effie.</p><p>To Finnick and Annie.</p><p>To Prim.</p><p>To Peeta.</p>
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